This is the first in a series of articles on general phonetic characteristics of American English. Language research techniques of spectrographic analysis, spectrographic synthesis, articulatory motion-picture study, and statistical calculation are briefly described. Thirty-five areas of phonetic difference for comparison of English to Spanish, German, and French are identified. These include general comparisons of vowel color, consonants, and declarative intonation shapes. Two spectrograms are pictured. For related documents see FL 000 781 and FL 000 782. (AF)